ColtFreaks.com - Indianapolis Colts Fan Forum   ColtFreaks.com Home Page

Go Back   ColtFreaks.com - Indianapolis Colts Fan Forum > Indianapolis Colts Fan Forum > Indianapolis Colts Discussion

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 08-06-2018, 04:41 PM
JAFF JAFF is offline
Post whore
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: Indiana
Posts: 5,059
Thanks: 2,388
Thanked 2,514 Times in 1,415 Posts
Default Peter King on Luck

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...?cid=nbcsports

Quote:
FMIA: Luck’s Beautiful Day, Watt’s Dark Moment, More Camp Trail Tales
Getty Images
WESTFIELD, Ind. — Two distinct soundtracks wafted over the Colts scorching practice field Sunday morning. In most training camps, teams cut through the boredom of practice with playlists the players love. The Colts began theirs, with the first-unit offense 11-on-11 versus the defense, with “Remember the Name,” by Fort Minor thundering over the practice fields at this new camp site 35 minutes north of downtown Indy, cornfields across the street. Very Indiana.

Andrew Luck, neck beard peeking out from under his chinstrap, wearing the red no-contact jersey, stepped to the line, trying to be heard over the music. Not easy.

This is ten percent luck
Twenty percent skill
Fifteen percent concentrated power of will
Five percent pleasure
Fifty percent pain
And a hundred percent reason to remember the name.

Perfect song to accompany this practice, this player, this summer. On this morning, Luck’s performance was just okay. He had a couple of deep overthrows to T.Y. Hilton, and the first unit had to settle for an Adam Vinatieri field goal when it stalled in a two-minute drill. But five weeks to the day from having to play in a game that counts, Luck’s work on this Field of Dreams was encouraging. He’s rusty, of course; he hasn’t played in a football game in 19 months. Andrew Luck has a franchise weighing on his surgically repaired right shoulder, and he couldn’t be happier.

Now for that second soundtrack. Luck’s last of 68 throws in the 1-hour, 50-minute practice was preceded by a call in the huddle, where he’s getting reacquainted with teammates old and new. “That’s what I missed about him most last year, the huddle,” said center Ryan Kelly. “He’s what every quarterback should be in there. When he’s there, we’re all locked in. He’s got an aura.”

Ten seconds left in Luck’s last period of the morning. Just over 20 yards from the end zone. The other soundtrack of the morning, the loud and assertive voice of Luck barking signals.

“White 80!” Luck barked. “White 80! SetHUT!”

Luck took the shotgun snap from his pal Ryan Kelly and faced a hard rush from his left. Spinning away from pressure, Luck ran left and stared downfield toward the end zone. Now this would be a test of the strength of his right shoulder—throwing across his body, straining the repaired labrum, trying to get enough juice and touch on a throw into the gathering crowd toward the back of the end zone, maybe 38 yards away.

A couple running steps from the left sideline, Luck loaded up the most important right arm in the state of Indiana (sorry, Victor Oladipo) and got ready for a throw that would test his readiness in lots of ways. In the bleachers, a few hundred fans who remembered his name waited to see if Luck remembered how to throw a great corner route across his body.

A week in the life of the training camp tour: The Browns (Berea, Ohio) to the Bills (Pittsford, N.Y.) to the Florio Studio Above The Garage (West Virginia) to the Texans (White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.) to the Panthers (Spartanburg, S.C.) to riding a bike to training camp with Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff (Flowery Branch, Ga.) to Friday Night Lights with the Titans (Franklin, Tenn.) to the Colts, adjacent to the cornfields.

I’ll write about the smart move of Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie to lock up two superior team managers through the next CBA, Randy Moss’ Hall of Fame tie, J.J. Watt’s quest for a fourth Defensive Player of the Year award, and then scattershoot all over the league and the Hall of Fame ceremonies and its Chattanooga branch. Tim Couch gives advice. You’ll live on the edge of a roster with a guy who’s been on three teams in three months.

It’s a rollicking column today. As a certain 41-year-old quarterback would say, “Let’s gooooooooo!”

The Lead: Andrew Luck

Back to Andrew Luck, spying T.Y. Hilton in coverage in the left corner of the end zone. The throw put all kinds of torque on his recovering right shoulder, but when his arm came forward, it didn’t look much more than Luck muscling up a high-arcing touch pass with little strain. He missed a few long ones earlier in the morning, but this one, a combination of touch and enough power, dropped out of the sky toward the corner of the end zone and into a scrum of five Colts—two receivers, three defensive backs. Hilton, inches from the back line, jumped up and grabbed the perfect spiral, coming down with two feet in. Touchdown.

“What a beautiful day!” said Luck, all smiles when we met 20 minutes later.

I wanted to know about that throw to Hilton. Luck said he had a joyous feeling that he described as, My arm’s still attached to my shoulder! This is gonna be okay!

“I was like, Oh that felt good. I’m glad I could do that again,” he recalled. “Things that happen on the practice field, every practice there’s been a couple things that’s like, I haven’t done that in a long time. This is fun. It really is.”



It’s startling to hear Luck say, “There is a part of me that thought I would never have fun playing football again.” But when you haven’t played a football game in 582 days after playing year after year, season after season, with the joy of a kid, you can go into a dark place sometimes. “I did,” he said. “I worked myself into a fairly dark place. But I think I see light at the end of the tunnel. I’m not torturing myself anymore.”

It’s easy to say it’s not that long a time since he played—19 months. But think of this: The Colts’ 22-man starting lineup on Jan. 1, 2017, Luck’s last start, will have either five or six of the same names when the Colts open the 2018 season. With a new coach (Frank Reich) and a new GM (Chris Ballard) too. All that newness, with so much pressure on a guy who hasn’t played in a year and a half, and who hasn’t been pain-free in his shoulder in three years.

The Colts are accounting for all that in camp. Luck threw 68 passes, including warmups, Sunday. A starting quarterback in a regular summer practice might throw 120 or so. But Luck skipped one throwing period Sunday, doing agility work instead. In other drills, he might throw one or two reps, with Jacoby Brissett and the backups taking more. The Colts are being cautious. Luck is on a regimen that will have him approximate the rhythm of a regular-season week consistently: three days on, one day off, then a game or another three days of practice. This week, it’s practice Sunday, today and Tuesday; off Wednesday; and about a quarter of play Thursday night when the Colts open the preseason at Seattle. “Nervous? I’ll be very nervous,” he told me.

I asked him how he feels day to day.

“I’ve been able to turn off the governor in my mind,” Luck said. “I’m just going out there throwing balls. There is nothing holding me back. There are some things that feel really good, like an old sweatshirt that you put on that just fits well. And there are some things that still feel awkward and new and wobbly, per se.”

I watched Luck’s face a lot Sunday when I could see it clearly enough. Did he wince? Did he flex his arm or rub his shoulder after any of his work? I saw none of it, and he told me later he is pain-free after a nightmare 2017. The garrulous Luck went into a shell—“He lived under a black cloud last year,” one team insider told me—and wasn’t the guy who loved just hanging around with his teammates, win or lose. “Being injured in the NFL is an isolating experience,” his tight end, Jack Doyle, said after Sunday’s practice. “Being injured as the quarterback, the face of the franchise, is even more isolating because Andrew, especially, doesn’t want to let his teammates down. I know it killed him.”

Luck said he’s enjoyed getting to know a couple new offensive resources—head coach Frank Reich (Doug Pederson’s coordinator in Philly last year) and offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni, a Reich confidante. Reich’s been good for Luck because he’s different and highly inclusive of what Luck thinks.

Reich got the lucky straw when Josh McDaniels pulled out of the job two days after the Super Bowl to stay in New England. That gave Ballard time to re-survey the field, and Reich was a huge, pleasant surprise. “He’s the only guy I interviewed who didn’t ask about Andrew and his condition,” Ballard told me. “I love that. Because what that tells me is he’s a problem-solver. He’ll figure it out. It’s about the job, and getting the team right—not figuring if the quarterback is right and then deciding if you want the job. Mike Holmgren took the Green Bay job without Brett Favre. Pete Carroll didn’t have Russell Wilson when he took over in Seattle.”

Said Reich: “I love Andrew. Who wouldn’t? But we’re going to win here, and it’s not about one player. It’s about the team.”

Well, perhaps. But Luck’s health is clearly the biggest issue for the near- and long-term of this franchise, particularly in a division that is far better than when Luck had shoulder surgery in January 2017. The signs are all good now. Football’s better when Andrew Luck is playing, and the Colts won’t be pushovers if Luck plays 16 healthy games. He just might.
Reply With Quote
The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to JAFF For This Useful Post:
ChoppedWood (08-06-2018), Indiana V2 (08-06-2018), Indystu2 (08-07-2018), Racehorse (08-07-2018), sherck (08-08-2018), YDFL Commish (08-06-2018)
  #2  
Old 08-06-2018, 05:29 PM
ChoppedWood ChoppedWood is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 2,614
Thanks: 2,900
Thanked 1,993 Times in 1,135 Posts
Default

Can't Fucking Wait for Thursday night!
Reply With Quote
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to ChoppedWood For This Useful Post:
Racehorse (08-07-2018), sherck (08-08-2018)
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 08:39 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
ColtFreaks.com is in no way affiliated with the Indianapolis Colts, the NFL, or any of their subsidiaries.